Antebellum Jefferson, Texas: Everyday Life in an East Texas Town

7. Censuses

116 1850 Census The 1850 Cass County census was conducted by Charles Graham from September through November. Jefferson and the other towns of the county were not enumerated as separate entities. The county was divided into seven precincts. All Jefferson residents are included in Precinct 1, which extended from the mouth of Black Cypress Bayou on the east to Trammel’s Trace on the west and apparently to near the present-day Marion County line on the north. Jefferson was the only large population center in this area. The Precinct 1 census was conducted from September 17 through October 18. Graham obviously began in Jefferson and ended in Jefferson, apparently moving in a clockwise direction. Precinct 1 contains 151 households, which may be divided into thirds, with the first and third sections containing almost all Jefferson residents (i.e., persons who lived within the town limits), but also many others. The census begins with the wagon maker James Smith, who is known to have operated a business in Jefferson from at least 1847 but lived in Paradise. Sardinia Perry, who also lived in Paradise, is shown without her husband William, who had gone west for the gold rush. The first section ends with the lawyer John Eppinger, who practiced in Jefferson but lived in Paradise. However, the first section includes persons such as James Todd and John Pitkin, who operated a store in Smithland. The second section is comprised largely of farmers. How7 . Censuses 117 Censuses ever, it includes persons closely associated with Jefferson who lived in Paradise such as the gunsmith John Porter, the teacher John Steel, the farmer Williamson Freeman, the minister Josiah Hill, and the lawyer Martin Rogers. It also includes the dentist George Slaughter, who is known to have been a Jefferson resident in 1851. The third section begins with Amos Ury, who is known from other sources to have been a Jefferson resident, and runs to the end of the census. Although the Precinct 1 enumeration (and particularly its first and third parts) includes all Jefferson residents, it cannot be used as a Jefferson census and therefore is not useful for statistical analysis. 1860 Census Jefferson first appears as an independent entity in the 1860 Marion County census, which was conducted by Richard Crump. The original handwritten census counts are available on microfilm and contain a great deal more information than can be found in published census documents. The census is in two parts: an enumeration of free white inhabitants and an enumeration of slaves. In both cases, the county information is arranged in terms of beats, the predecessors to modern census tracts, with separate sections devoted to Jefferson proper (designated City of Jefferson) and nearby areas (designated Jefferson Post Office). The section devoted to Jefferson proper does not constitute a town census in the strict sense, because it apparently includes some persons who lived in Paradise. In any case, the handwritten accounts are compatible with the published census records, which show 722 free white inhabitants and 266 slave inhabitants in Jefferson, for a total population of 988 in 1860. In the Marion County census of free white inhabitants, Beat 1 is centered on Alleys Mills, Beat 2 on Hickory Hill (now Avinger), Beat 3 on Jefferson, Beat 4 on Smithland, and Beat 5 on Monterey. These are not town censuses, but rather regional censuses in which the town (actually the post office) is used as an identifier. Beat 3 is not concerned with Jefferson proper, but rather with the area to the west and to the north extending up to the county line, which runs from pages 13 through 25 and is designated as Jefferson Post Office. Beat 3 is followed by Beats 4 (Smithland) and 5 (Monterey). The enumeration for the town of Jef- 118 Antebellum Jefferson, Texas ferson (designated City of Jefferson) does not actually begin until page 33 and runs to the end of the census on page 51. The Jefferson portion of the census was taken during August 22– 27. The microfilm rendition contains the original census counts and is complete and unblemished. The only textual difficulty is in the interpretation of Crump’s handwriting. The handwritten counts by Crump contain one error. J. M. and J. C. Murphy are listed incorrectly on a single line on page 44 and correctly elsewhere in the census. The counts of males at the bottom of the page was corrected, but...